


It just takes some time (sometimes)

by crookedcrown



Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Community: theoldguardkinkmeme, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26229418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedcrown/pseuds/crookedcrown
Summary: It takes 50 years for Booker to notice that Joe and Nicky are a couple.
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 82
Kudos: 690





	It just takes some time (sometimes)

**Author's Note:**

> My contribution to this delightful [prompt!](https://theoldguardkinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/2726.html?thread=575398#cmt575398/)

Sébastien looked up from the book he was reading and squinted into the distance. His eyes barely focused on the window or the vague silhouette of Andrea cooling down with stretches after spending hours punching sandbags. It was that feeling again, something buzzing around his head like an irritating mosquito he couldn’t squash. There was something he wasn’t quite grasping, couldn’t quite get a hold of. There was a lot, he admitted, that he had to learn this past 50 years through varying degrees of sobriety. He was probably missing a lot of things, if he was being honest. But there was something, a very specific thing that nagged at him. It had ebbed and flowed through the years, this feeling. Today, it was coming in strong.

Joe and Nicky were squabbling in the kitchen. Joe wanted a snack and Nicky told him it would ruin his appetite. Joe was banished from the kitchen soon after, but he still looked somewhat triumphant as he held a handful of sunflower seeds. Sébastien watched him walk past and settle on the armchair beside him. There was a smudge of pasta sauce on the corner of Joe’s lips. Sébastien frowned at it, like it was an important puzzle piece. He glanced back at the kitchen. He couldn’t see Nicky but he could hear him humming to himself. He looked back at Joe.

And then suddenly --

He pointed at Joe.

“Are you and Nicky...?”

Joe turned to him. A seed pinched between his teeth. “Me and Nicky what?” He prompted, when Sébastien didn’t continue. 

His hand dropped like a dead weight, and he shifted in his seat. Feeling embarrassed now, of all things. “Together.” He said softly, half hoping Joe wouldn’t hear.

When Joe didn’t immediately reply, he glanced up. Joe’s eyebrows were arched, his lips slack and slightly apart.

“Never mind.” Sébastien grumbled and moved to stand. Joe’s hand grasped his wrist. When Sébastien looked back at him, Joe was searching his face as if trying to gauge the sincerity behind his question.

Joe smiled. “We are,” he said gently. He released Sébastien and leaned back into his seat. “We are together.”

Of course, looking back on it now, it was all so glaringly obvious. They shared the same bed, for one. Though that in itself wasn’t completely unusual. There had been times when all four of them were basically piled on top of each other. But even when there was space for them to have their own bed, Joe and Nicky shared. 

It was also the way they slept together. Joe curled around Nicky’s back. Nicky stretched out in front of Joe, as if hiding Joe from any potential enemies. And yes, they were pressed up against each other very tightly. Joe’s arm around Nicky’s waist, their fingers intertwined. But there had been more than several occasions where Joe had held him, too, while he slept fitfully, or cried. Joe’s arm felt like an anchor, warm and safe, and his long steady breaths had coaxed him to follow.

He thought maybe Nicky had a lot of nightmares.

Sébastien recalled most recently, a month or so ago, when he was watching Joe play chess with a very pretty, very charming young woman. She had used every opportunity to touch Joe’s hands, giggled at every second thing he said. And Joe had been friendly, smiled back, didn’t pull away from the touches, but, otherwise, didn’t seem to be engaging her further other than as a relatively well-matched chess partner. She told him it was getting late after Joe edged out another victory. She looked at him expectedly. There was a beat. Joe pleasantly bid her farewell. Sébastien winced at the crushing disappointment on her face when she stood to leave. He nudged his foot against Joe’s once she was out of earshot. 

“She wanted you to go with her.” He told Joe.

“I know.” He didn’t look up from where he was resetting the board.

“Why didn’t you go with her?” He was genuinely curious. He knew Andrea sometimes sought it out, when it suited her, and there would be days before they would see her again. Nicky seemed to retain more of his priestly nature and seemed genuinely oblivious when people expressed interest in him. But Joe knew when people were attracted to him, yet he always turned them away.

This time was no different, except Sébastien had asked about it. Joe scrunched up his face, eyes still on the board. “Why would I?” He had said it like the answer was so obvious. Sébastien didn’t press further, not wanting to make himself look like a fool. Again.

There had been a brief moment in time, (brief, very brief!) when Sébastien considered, maybe, Joe was in love with him and was patiently waiting for him to come around. And there had been, maybe, an even briefer moment when Sébastien had entertained the idea. Joe was a handsome man, clever and golden-tongued, with hands that were both strong and gentle. But Sébastien was still wallowing in his own muck and grief, had never considered men like that (not yet), but, mostly, he knew Joe deserved much better.

It was a fleeting thought. One he had foolishly shared with Andrea while they were deep in the drink and she had laughed and laughed and laughed. He had hoped she would keep it to herself and so far it seemed she had.

“Honestly, Sébastien.” Joe snatched his attention again. “You notice when strangers make eyes at me, but you never noticed when Nicky did the same?” His tone and smile had taken on a more teasing tone now.

Sébastien relaxed and shrugged. “I thought that’s just how his face looked.”

Joe threw back his head and laughed.

And, as if he had been summoned, Nicky was standing at the doorway, (And maybe he had. Joe’s generous laughter beckoning him like a siren song.) holding a wooden spoon. “Who? Who has eyes for Joe?” He didn’t sound upset. More curious. Like he wanted to engage with this person, as it seemed they had much in common. And then, “what face?”

“You know,” Sébastien continued, he liked making Joe laugh, glancing between the two men, “he has that fond exasperation for Andrea,” Joe laughed again and nodded, “and with me it’s like when your mother is disappointed in you.”

Joe clapped gleefully. The half-chewed sunflower seeds spilt on his lap, forgotten. 

“And for you,” he paused, considering.

“Pure animalistic hunger.” Joe said, very seriously.

“Yes.” Sébastien rolled his eyes. “That was exactly what I was going to say.”

“What?” Nicky frowned, head swivelling between the two of them. “What is going on?”

Joe gestured to Sébastien, magnanimous. Like he was insisting Sébastien walk through the opened door first. A real gentleman.

He cleared his throat. “I just realised you and Joe were...together.”

Nicky looked at Sébastien for a long, hard moment and then shook his head. He turned back into the kitchen.

“You see?” Sébastien pointed. “Did you see that look he gave me?”

Joe nodded. “Devastating.”

It was then Andrea strolled in. She read the jovial tone in the room and looked amused. “Oh, so you told him?” She said, turning to Sébastien.

For a moment, he was confused. He heard, distantly, Joe asking, “told me what?” But when he remembered, taking a second too long, his hands shot out like he could physically stop the words from coming out of her mouth. 

“He thought you were in love with him, Joe.” She said, quite loudly, because not all of them were in the same room. Very considerate. 

There was a loud crash in the kitchen. Joe had slithered off his chair and was on the floor clutching his sides. He was laughing so hard, no sounds were coming out of his mouth. That was a little hurtful.

“Thanks, Andrea.” Sébastien sighed. She was never keeping the secret for him. She had merely been biding her time for maximum effect. She winked at him as she walked past, heading to the kitchen to either help or laugh at Nicky.

Sébastien tried to kick at Joe, still rolling around on the ground like an arsehole, but he easily caught his foot. “Oh, my love,” he cooed gently before he yanked Sébastien onto the floor.


End file.
